Delhi Court Concludes Arguments in Sajjan Kumar 1984 Sikh Genocide Case

On 24 Oct, a Delhi court concluded final arguments in the 1984 Sikh genocide case against former INC MP Sajjan Kumar. The case is about the deaths of Jaswant Singh and his son Tarundeep Singh, who were killed in Saraswati Vihar on 1 Nov 1984. Senior Advocate Harvinder Singh Phoolka, representing the victims, emphasized that the 1984 genocide was not isolated incidents but part of a larger, orchestrated massacre. Judge Kaveri Baweja scheduled the case for clarification on 8 Nov. On 20 Sep 2023, Special Judge Geetanjli Goel had acquitted Kumar, giving him the ‘benefit of doubt’. On 3 Oct, the Delhi High Court deferred to 29 Nov a petition filed by INC leader Jagdish Tytler challenging the framing of charges against him in the 1984 anti-Sikh genocide case (SDW Vol 2, Issue 41, Story 7). On 21 Oct, Justices Prathiba M Singh and Amit Sharma granted ‘leave to appeal’ which is a formal permission granted to challenge a decision in a higher court to the Central Bureau of Investigation against the trial court’s decision on the Sajjan Kumar case dated 20 Sep 2023, scheduling the matter for further consideration in December. The appeals also concerned acquittals dated 26 Apr 1995 and 29 Jul 1995, where individuals were acquitted of charges including rioting, murder, and unlawful assembly, based on First Information Reports in 1984. Previously, both Justice Singh and Sharma noted that the delays, exceeding more than 36 years, made it untenable to condone the lateness. The state attributed the delays to the Justice S N Dhingra Committee, constituted in 2018 to review Sikh genocide cases, which submitted its report on 15 Apr 2019, criticizing the police and administration for hushing up cases.